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60th Congress! SENATE l^"™' 

2d Session I I J™. /fa3 



William Pinkney Whyte 

(Late a Senator from Maryland) 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

Sixtieth Congress 
Second Session 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
January 16, 1909 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
February 14, 1909 



Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing 



WASHINGTON : : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : : 1^09 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Proceedings in the Senate 5 

Prayer by Rev. Edward E. Hale 5,8 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Smith, of Maryland 10 

Mr. Teller, of Colorado- _ 20 

Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 23 

Mr. Rayner, of Maryland ^5 

Proceedings in the House 34 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D__ . 34. 3' J 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Gill, of Maryland 38 

Mr. Keifer, of Ohio 4 ^ 

Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 47 

Mr. Goulden, of New York 49 

J 



DEATH OF SENATOR WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE 

Wednesday, March x8, 1908. 
The Chaplain, Rev. Edward E. Hale, offered the following 

prayer: 

The law of the spirit of life in Christ J< sus hath made us fret 
pom the law and of death. 

* :!: * * * * * 

For we know that ij the earthly house of our tabernacle be dis- 
solved, we have a building from God — a houst not made with 
hands . • ternal in the hi avens. 

^ :]: * ''.• '-.- :\: % 

IE are always of good courage ami are willing rather to be 
absi ut /rem the body and to b< pri ?< nt with thi Lord. 

Even so, Father, come to us. We are Thy children. In life 
or in death, in strength or in weakness, we can always come 
to Thee for a Father's voice; we can always rest on a Father's 
arm. 

Father, we ask Thy blessing upon those of his own household, 
who watched over his illness and who see his face in death. 
For ourselves, his associates here, we thank Thee for a life 
which he has given to the service of his country, and we ask 
Thee to bless us and lift us up, that we may all stand in the 
presence of our God and of this nation, that each man mav con- 
secrate life to heaven and to earth together. These two worlds 
are one world, and tin- law of the Spirit of Life makes us free 
from the fear of death. 

5 



6 Proceedings in the SenaU 

Go with us where we go. Stay with us where we stav. We 
are praying for the Congress, for the nation, Father, for all 
who loved him and honored him, and for all who prize the 
government of law, in Christ Jesus. 

( >ur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thv name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is done in 
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our 
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead 
us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil; for Thine is 
the kingdom and the power and the glorv, forever. Amen. 

Mr. Rayner. Mr. President, it is with feelings of profound 
sorrow that I announce to the Senate the death of the Hon. 
William Pinkney Whyte, the distinguished Senator from 
.Maryland. He died last night at his home in Baltimore at 7 
o'clock. I had observed within the last few weeks the plainest 
evidence of his failing health, but, knowing his speedy powers 
of recuperation. 1 had strong hopes that he would rallv from 
the attack from which he was suffering. It was otherwise 
decreed, and, after a long life of remarkable achievements and 
singular usefulness to his State and to his countrv, he has 
passed away. 

This is not the occasion to pay the proper tribute to his 
memory, but it behooves me to say that the State whose noblest 
aims and best traditions he lias so truly represented will mourn 
him as it would mourn no other of its illustrious sons. From 
one end of Maryland to the other he will be missed from 
amongst us as perhaps no other man has ever been missed 
before. He was the idol of our people. 

He was beloved by all classes of the community, and as 1 
left my home this morning the city that he loved and with 
whose progress his own life was interwoven seemed to be cast 
down and pervaded with a full consciousness of the great loss 



Proceedings in the Senate 7 

that it has sustained. In his palmy days in certain departments 
of his profession he stood without a peer. In times gone by of 
great political turbulence and conflict he had no equal as an 
orator upon the hustings, and his popularity with every element 
of the people was unsurpassed in my day. 

Back of it all there was that which is greater than learning 
and success and eloquence and popularity, and that was his 
stainless and unblemished character in public and in private 
life. It was an honor and a victory to die as he did. Conscious 
until within a moment of his death, it must have been a glori- 
ous realization, inexpressible in words, for him to feel that as 
he passed into the presence of his Maker he could look back 
upon a life dedicated to the performance of public and private 
duties in strict accord with the prompting of his heart and the 
dictates of his conscience. 

Mr. President, genius and ability may perish without hardly 
a record of their work or a remembrance of their deeds, but a 
character like his never dies; it stands forth as a beacon light, 
shedding its rays upon the generations that are to come and 
casting its halo upon the shores of eternity. 

Mr. President, I now send to the desk and ask for the imme- 
diate consideration and adoption of the following resolutions. 

The Vice-President. The resolutions will be read by the 
Secretary. 

The Secretarv read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
of the Hon. William Pinknev Whvte, late a Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

A', wived, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the 
House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of 
the deceased Senator, and that as a further mark of respect to his memory 
the Senate do now adjourn. 

The Vice-President. The question is on agreeing to the 
resolutions. 



8 Proceedings in the Senate 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to; and (at 12 
o'clock and 8 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until to- 
morrow, Thursday, March 19, 1908, at 12 o'clock meridian. 

Tuesday, January 5, 1909. 
Mr. Rayner. Mr. President, I desire to give notice that on 
Saturday, January 16, I shall ask the Senate to consider reso- 
lutions commemorative of the life and character of Hon. Wil- 
liam Pinkney Whyte, late a Senator from the State of Mary- 
land. 

Saturday, January 16, 1909. 
The Senate met at 1.30 o'clock p. m. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Edward E. Hale, offered the following 
prayer: 

The everlasting God, the Lord, Creator of the 1 nds of the earth, 
fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His under- 
standing. He giveth power to the faint, and to him that hath no 
might 11> givi th stn ngth. 

/■.;. 11 the youth shall faint and be weary, and the old in, n shall 
utterly fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall n new their 
strength. They shall mount on wings as eagles; they shall run 
and not be wi ary; tin y shall walk and not faint. 

Let us pray. 

Father of life, we thank Thee that in the memories of death 
and of sickness we learn the lesson of life; that we live and 
move and have our being in our God. And here to-day, as 
we meet to go back upon the history of the past and to know 
how Thy children have served Thee in the days that have gone 
by, we ask Thee for this whole Nation to quicken the memory 
of the history of these centuries; how 1 his Nation has relied 
upon her children and found them in tiieir places; how men, 
and women, and boys, and girls have served their country, 



Proceedings in the Senate 9 

have lived to Thy glory, and have died without fear. Not in 
vain for us that Thou art renewing the knowledge of Thy 
Gospel every day and every year of our lives. 

Show us, Father, how we can live in the Spirit, how we can 
walk in the Spirit, if we enter into the service of God, which is 
the service of mankind. We ask it in Christ Jesus. 

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our traspassis 
as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not 
into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. 
Amen. 

Mr. Rayxer. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I 
send to the desk. 

The Vice-President. The Senator from Maryland submits 
resolutions, which will be read by the Secretary. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved, That it is with deep regret and profound sorrow that the 
Senate has heard the announcement of the death of Hon. William Pinknev 
Whvte, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
business of the Senate be now suspended, to enable his associates to pay 
fitting tribute to his high character and distinguished services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary transmit to the family of the deceased a 
copy of these resolutions, with the action of the Senate thereon. 

Resolvi •!, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House 
of Representatives. 

The resolutions were considered by unanimous consent and 
unanimously agreed to. 



io Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 

Mr. President: The stoutest courage and the most gifted 
tongue might well be overwhelmed on this occasion bv the 
impossibility of doing justice to the character and memory of 
William Pinkney Whyte, who was lately a Member of this 
body, taking an active part in its deliberations, buoyantly 
supporting, as he did, the weight of great cares and many years, 
bearing the respect and veneration of all, the tender love of 
many friends, shortly before his death decorated by a grateful 
constituency with the badge of their confidence engraved by 
their votes so deep upon the tablets of history as to far outlive 
his life, crowned with honors such as few can boast, fearing 
none but God. 

But in the judgment of those, who, like myself, enjoyed the 
privilege of knowing William Pinkney Whyte, the best tribute 
to his memory is an unembellished narrative, which faithfully 
describes his rare qualities of character and intellect, simply 
portraying him as he was, for his own works speak more elo- 
quently for him than any words of ours can do. 

To tell in detail the history of Senator Whyte 's professional 
career is to write the history of a large part of the more im- 
portant litigation in Maryland for over sixty years. He was a 
lawyer by heredity, nature, and training. He was the grandson 
of the great lawyer and statesman, William Pinkney, and 
worthily sustained his grandfather's reputation, as the Mary- 
land reports, the reports of the United States Supreme Court, 
and the political history of Maryland and of the Xation for the 
last sixty wars abundantly show. 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 1 1 

Senator Whyte was born in Baltimore, August 9, 1824. He 
was of distinguished ancestry on both sides; and while his 
parents during his early life were by no means rich, they were 
nevertheless able to give him good educational advantages, 
including a course at the Harvard Law School. This, with a 
preceding period spent in study under the tutelage of Brown 5: 
Brune, at that time perhaps the leading lawyers of Baltimore, 
and a subsequent period spent in the office of Judge John Glenn, 
amply fitted him to hold the commanding position among men 
of his profession, which was easily his for two generations. 

While his youth was free alike from the enervating effect of 
wealth and from the struggle with adverse conditions, such as 
often make strong men stronger and crush the weak, his was a 
rugged, ambitious, and assertive nature, which would easily 
have survived either extreme, and needed no tempering to 
make it pure and strong. 

The worthy and the good in his cultured and intellectual 
ancestors were perpetuated in him, so that to a remarkably 
strong and vigorous physique was added a virile, active mind, 
mature in its development and sure in its conclusions. 

After having worked two years in the office of Peabody, Riggs 
& Co. as a clerk, and having studied law, we find him in 1847, 
at the age of 23, for more than a year a member of the bar and 
also a member of the Maryland legislature, as well as happily 
married to his first wife, who was the daughter of Levi Hol- 
lingsworth, a prominent merchant of Baltimore. 

I'hus almost simultaneously he began his professional and 
political career, both crowned with success and honors never 
before equaled by any son of his native State, and also his 
domestic life, which was blessed with happiness unshaken and 
unbroken until he was bowed by the weight of a great domestic 
sorrow during the year 1880, in the death of Mrs. Whyte. 



12 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

No other Marylander ever lived a life so filled to the brim 
with public honors as was his, or perhaps gained a higher place 
in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 

His unique public service began, as I have said, in 1847-4S, 
as a delegate from Baltimore to the Marvland legislature. 

Six years later he was elected to the office of comptroller of 
the state treasury, where, a youth almost that he was, he made 
a distinct impression, lasting to this day, because of the marked 
ability shown by him in reorganizing and simplifying the book- 
keeping and financial system of the State. 

In 1 85 1 he was nominated by the Democrats for Congress, 
but was defeated by the Whig candidate, T. Yates Walsh, by a 
small plurality. 

In 1857 he was again nominated for Congress, having refused 
to accept a renomination for state comptroller, and this time 
was defeated by the Know-Nothing candidate. Senator Wiivtk 
contested the election, and after a wearisome delay and a bitter 
fight, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 106 to 97. re- 
jected the report of the Elections Committee declaring the seat 
held by his opponent to be vacant. 

In 1S6S he was a delegate to the national convention which 
nominated Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair for President 
and Vice-President of the United States. 

In 1 87 1 he was elected governor of Maryland for a term of 
four years, and was made mayor of Baltimore without organ- 
ized opposition in 1881. 

Without solicitation on his part he was nominated and later 
elected by the Democrats as attorney-general of Maryland in 
1887, and thereafter was again called upon to serve his city as 
chairman of the important commission appointed to revise and 
redraft the charter of Baltimore. 

While it would thus seem he had spent his full share of time 
and energy in the public service, he was not permitted to rest 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 13 

or to devote himself to his practice, so that he might accumulate 
some financial resources for his later years, for in 1900 he was 
again called upon to serve the public, and this time as city 
solicitor of Baltimore. 

He was at three different periods a member of this body. In 
1868 he was appointed by Governor Swann to fill out the unex- 
pired term of Reverdy Johnson, who had resigned his seat to 
accept the appointment from President Johnson as minister to 
the Court of St. Janus. 

In 1875, having been elected by the Maryland general as- 
semblv, he again took his seat in this Chamber; and thirty-one 
years later — in 1906 — he reentered these doors, by appointment 
of the governor of Maryland for the interval until the legisla- 
ture met, as the successor of the late Senator Arthur Pue 
Gorman, to end his days a member of this body. 

At the primary election next ensuing his appointment as 
Senator, for the selection by the Democratic party of its candi- 
dates for United States Senators, there being two positions to 
fill from Marvland, factional discord, the selfish aspirations of 
others, and even diversity of opinion and party councils, dis- 
appeared, like frost in the sunshine, before the heat of the pop- 
ular approval of his candidacy by the people throughout Marvland. 

As a result, he was nominated for the term ending the 4th of 
next March by direct vote of his party at the first primary 
election ever held in Maryland for such a purpose, not only 
without opposition, but with a spirit of enthusiasm which was 
a fitting tribute to the service and character of any man, how- 
ever exalted, and which must have brought fresh warmth to 
his aged heart, so soon to feel the chill of death, and fresh pride 
to his great mind, so soon to realize the glories of his Lord. 

Senator WhyTE first entered this Chamber while the minds 
of its members were still inflamed by the recent impeachment 
proceedings of President Johnson and when our Nation was 



14 Manorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

sore and bleeding after the strife of four years' civil war. At 
that time he stood with Thomas A. Hendricks and the Demo- 
cratic minority in support of the President, who had incurred 
the bitter animosity of Sumner, Conkling, Edmunds, Morton, 
and the giant leaders of the majority of that day. 

But even during his first short service in the Senate he did 
not shrink from any encounter when he heard the call of duty, 
no matter how powerful his antagonists or how heavy the odds 
against him. 

A single incident, perhaps long since lost to sight and public 
memory in the high tide of stirring events of a trying period, 
will serve to prove the worth of his moral courage and effective 
argument. 

He entered here to find the conflict between Andrew Johnson 
and the radical Republican majority of this body at its fiercest 
extreme. Any expression of sympathy for the President was 
sufficient to blast its author's influence and becloud his subse- 
quent service with angry suspicion and open resentment. The 
Nation was scarcely more than two hostile camps, one over- 
whelmed, turn, and disarmed, it is true, and the other dominant, 
compact, victorious. Magnanimity, generosity, confidence, even 
justice, were well-nigh obsolete national virtues, for men's 
passions ran high, and for a time ran riot with their finer feel- 
ings and wiser statesmanship. In the Senate the majority, pow 
erful in numbers, in leadership, and in intellectual capacity, 
completely controlled the situation, and the handful of Senators 
composing the minority, able men that they were, could protest, 
and only protest, and submit. 

It was at this stage that President Johnson in December, 
[868, submitted his message to the Senate; and before the 
opening sentences had been read Senator Conness, of California, 
who within the last week has died, moved to dispense with the 
further reading of the message, at the same lime declaring it in 



Address oj Mr. Smith, of Maryland 15 

all respects to be an offensive document, and that time could be 
better employed than in hearing it read. 

Scarcely had Senator Conness taken his seat when Senator 
Whyte arose to defend the President in discharging a public 
dutv in obedience to the Constitution in submitting what he, in 
the performance of that duty, deemed a proper communication 
to a coordinate branch of the Government and that the Presi- 
dent was entitled to the Senate's attention and respect. 

I trust — 

He said — 

that for the sake of maintaining that respectful attention which the country 
demands on the part of the legislative branch of this Government the 
message of the President may be read in the hearing of the Senate. He 
is called upon to discharge a great public duty, and in pursuance of the 
demands made upon him by the Constitution of the United States he seeks 
to give information to the Senate and House of Representatives of the state 
of the country. He may use language strong in its character, as Senators 
often in the discussion of subjects before the Senate may do. He may 
use language that may be irritating. But, nevertheless, he occupies the 
high and exalted position of President of the United States. He is com- 
municating in the discharge of his duty that which he conceives ought to 
be communicated to this, a coordinate branch of the Government; and I 
trust that at this, the beginning of a new session, or a continued session 
of Congress, we may have a cordiality in sentiment, or at least a respectful 
attention to the views and sentiments of those who may differ with regard 
to the manner in which the Government shall be conducted. I trust, 
sir, that the motion made by the Senator from California may not prevail. 

And the motion did not prevail, for in spite of their early 
opposition some of the master minds of the majority, notably 
Senator Edmunds and Senator Sumner, yielded to the force of 
Senator Whyte's position. Though I know of no contempo- 
raneous account of the incident, we may be sure that young 
though he was, both in years and in point of service as a mem- 
ber of the Senate, that he defended his position with the same 
intellectual force, the same hardy, confident courage, the same 
all-compelling personal attraction which marked all his public 
utterances. 



i6 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

During his second service as a member of this body, begin- 
ning in 1875, he quite fulfilled the promise of his youth and 
the hopes of his friends for a useful and distinguished career, as 
I have no doubt the senior Senator from Colorado, the only 
member of this body who served with Senator WHYTE at that 
period, easily recalls. 

His eloquence, his energy, his personal magnetism and trans- 
parent honesty carried him far toward leadership on this floor. 

His knowledge of the country's needs, his broad, dispassion- 
ate view of public questions, his wise conservatism, and his 
rare legal attainments did much for the Nation, and established 
his claim to rank among the great men of our times. 

Senator WhyTE's career as a lawyer may best be appreciated 
and best expressed by my colleague. His utterances as a mem- 
ber of the Senate, his discussion of the currency question, his 
fight against the Electoral Commission, his sen-ice as a mem- 
ber of the committee of Congress to prepare the act establish- 
ing substantially the present form of government of the District 
of Columbia, his fight against ship subsidies, and many others. 
as well as his speech delivered here last February, forty years 
after he first addressed the Senate, are all matters of permanent 
official record, accessible alike to all. There is no need t < > speak 
of them. 

But for the benefit of those present whose acquaintance with 
Senator WHYTE was limited to his last short service here, and 
for those who will come after us, 1 wisli I could frame some 
worth\- description of those personal, human characteristics of 
his — qualities which require the genius of a Lord Macaulay to 
portray, so vivid and so rare were they as developed in him by 
nature, by discipline, and by his faith in religion. However. I 
must perforce leave them unperpetuated by any lasting or 
worthy memorial, to finally fade and fail with the decaying 
memories of those who knew him. 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 17 

Then, too, I owe him so much for his unvarying personal and 
political friendship that should I speak of him as I feel he de- 
serves I fear perhaps some may think that my true and sincere 
esteem for him and for his memory may seem false in this, that 
any spoken praise of him by me finds inspiration in my own 
flattered vanity rather than in his worth. 

No one who knows the people of Maryland, however, can 
doubt that my feeling for him was shared by a large majority 
of the people of his State, and the reason for his well-nigh 
universal popularity and respect in his own State is not hard to 
find. 

It was impossible for anyone to resist the charm of his old- 
fashioned manners, recognizing in their exquisite taste and 
beaming kindliness no distinction of social caste or of age. 
Caring little for money himself, he loved no man the less who 
was without it. Even his quaint law offices on the first floor 
of a very old brick house, once the home of the late Chief Justice 
Tanev, and which he had occupied continuously for over half 
a century, seemed to link him to a fast-disappearing type of the 
picturesque past. There, with fine scorn for modern office 
furniture and conveniences, he laboriously wrote his letters, 
prepared his legal papers, and his many public speeches with 
his own pen. 

Work had no terror for him, and at the time of his death he 
had many cases pending; and even on the day of his death he 
did not rest, but inquired for his mail and for news from the 
Senate, so that it may be said that he literally almost died at 
his work. 

Like all strong men, he made some bitter enemies; and like 
all men, who are neither more nor less than human, he cherished 
a few implacable antagonisms. 
78134 — S. Doc. 765, 60-2 2 



18 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

Those who have seen something of the malicious and loose 
statements made in the heat of political campaigns can well 
appreciate the force of the testimonial to his lofty character 
and almost perfect domestic life inadvertently furnished by one 
of his most bitter and ingenious political enemies, one who 
boasted consummate skill in the use of invective. 

This gentleman was urged by his associates to make a public 

attack on Senator WhyTE, and he in desperation of success said: 

Attack him! What can I say about him? He is a model citizen, a 
model father, a model son, and a model husband, and he hasn't a bad 
habit in the world. 

It was as a political speaker that Senator WhyTE was best 
known and best appreciated by his own people, and where, so it 
seemed to me, he was most in his element. He never failed to 
attract an audience limited in size only by the capacitv of the 
hall. 

As a rule he spoke without notes, and when warmed up to 
his subject none could surpass him in dramatic effect. His tall, 
erect frame was all animation then, and seemed possessed with 
an energy which apparently defied fatigue. His voice was 
strong and full as he would hurl fortlt a veritable torrent of 
vigorous argument, interspersed with occasional touches of 
broad humor which, as handled by him, in no way seemed to 
detract from the dignity and earnestness of his address. 

His logic and power must have carried consternation to the 
hearts of his opponents as he usually carried conviction to the 
minds of his hearers, for surely I have never seen a combina- 
tion of great physical strength and mental capacitv more sym- 
metrical in development or more harmoniously proportioned. 

And all his powers seemed to grow and gather lone as he 
spoke, so that he simply dominated his audiences, and none could 
hear him out and doubt his power or his sincerity or the fact 
that in that great heart of his there was no hiding place for fear. 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 19 

Until within a few days of his death, Senator WhyTE did not 
seem to feel at all the weight of his 83 years. Then he would 
speak lightly of that which evidently bore heavily upon his 
mind, as he marked' his increasing loss of weight. Then he 
would jocosely apologize for taking a little extra care of him- 
self, as he explained, because "he was getting to be an old 
man." 

But still his indomitable spirit sustained unimpaired the ef- 
fect of his slowly progressive physical weakness and drove him 
on to a point beyond his strength to bear, until he might have 
truly said of himself, in reviewing his long life, with its cease- 
less activity in the light of his ambition to triumph over his 
physical ills : 

Much have I seen and known; cities of men, 
And manners, climates, councils, governments; 
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all. 

***** 

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' 

We are not now that strength which in old days 

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; 

One equal temper of heroic hearts, 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

He showed no sign of actual illness until Friday, the 13th day 
of last March, when he left this Chamber for his home in Balti- 
more, a stricken man. His trouble was diagnosed as ervsipelas. 
The disease did not assume an especially virulent form until 
late the following Tuesday afternoon, when he rapidly grew 
worse. Then, surrounded by his children, grandchildren, and 
stepchildren — children of his second wife, who predeceased 
him — conscious almost to the last, manifesting to the end a 
gentle consideration for others, he closed the wonderful earthly 
career which had earned for him that title which he loved best, 
"The Grand Old Man of Maryland," and passed quietlv away, 
serene in his confident faith in the life everlasting. 



2o Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 



Address of Mr. Teller, of Colorado 

Mr. President: After the two very eloquent and deserved 
tributes which have been paid to the memory of Senator Whyte 
by the Senators from Maryland, I shall on this occasion content 
myself with a very few words. The reference made by the 
senior Senator from Maryland [Mr. Rayner] to the part taken 
by Senator Whyte in the deliberations of this body in the great 
contest which preceded the inauguration of President Hayes has 
recalled vividly to my mind the sen-ices he rendered as a Mem- 
ber of this body, and particularly the zeal and power with which 
he presented his views on that occasion, when the Senate and 
the whole country to a great extent were disturbed and uncer- 
tain as to the result. 

My acquaintance with Senator Whyte began when I enured 
this body on the 4th of December, 1876, and with my acquaint- 
ance began my friendship for him, which lasted until his days 
were ended as a Member of this bod v. 

Senator Whyte first became a Member of the Senate In 
appointment of the governor of Maryland July 14, 1868, to fill 
the place of Reverdy Johnson, who resigned his seat in the 
Senate to become minister to England, and he served in that 
capacity until the 4th of March, 1869, when he resumed the 
practice of his profession. .Soon after the expiration of his 
term he was elected governor of Maryland, and in 1874 resigned 
his position as governor and was elected to the Senate. He 
entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 1875. and served out 
the full term ending March 4, 1881. He was a lawyer of 
marked ability, and after the expiration of his term he resumed 
the practice of law in the city of Baltimore, and soon afterwards 
was elected mayor of Baltimore without opposition. 



Address of Mr. Teller, oj Colorado 21 

Senator Whyte came of a good family. His maternal grand- 
father was a distinguished citizen of Maryland; an attorney- 
general of the State; a joint minister to Great Britain with 
James Monroe in 1806 and 1807; Attorney-General of the United 
States from 181 1 to 1814; minister to the two Sicilies; minister 
plenipotentiary to Russia from 1816 to 1S18, and was elected to 
the United States Senate January 4, 1820, and served until his 
death, February 22, 1822. 

On the death of Senator Gorman Mr. Whyte was again, on 
the 8th of June, 1906, appointed by the governor to fill the 
vacancy, and on the 1 ith day of that month entered the Senate. 
He was subsequently elected by the legislature of his State to 
serve out the unexpired time of Senator Gorman. 

Among the Members of the Senate of the Forty-fourth Con- 
gress at the time of my entrance into this body, and of which 
Senator Whyte was a Member, were the following: Thomas F. 
Bavard, of Delaware; Logan, of Illinois; McDonald and Mor- 
ton, of Indiana; Allison, of Iowa; Ingalls, of Kansas; Hannibal 
Hamlin, of Maine; Boutwell and Dawes, of Massachusetts; 
Bogv and Cockrell, of Missouri; Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; 
Conkling and Kernan, of New York; Sherman and Thurman, of 
Ohio; Cameron and Wallace, of Pennsylvania; Edmunds and 
Morrill, of Vermont; Cameron and Howe, of Wisconsin; An- 
thony and Bumside, of Rhode Island, and Jones, of Nevada. 

I need not say that the Forty-fourth Congress was, in mem- 
bership, a notable one, and Senator WhyTE was an active and 
influential Member of that Congress. As a constitutional lawyer 
he took high rank from his entrance into this body. He was a 
student in all things pertaining to our history and the charac- 
ter of our institutions. He had decided views as to the powers 
and duties of the General Government. He was familiar with 
the Constitution and the construction that the Supreme Court 



22 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

of the United States had put on that instrument, and was vigi- 
lant that nothing should be done by the State or Nation to 
lessen in any degree the power conferred on the Nation or re- 
served to the States. He was a believer in the rights of the 
States to exercise complete sovereignty when such sovereignty 
had not been delegated to the Nation and when the welfare and 
interest of the State demanded such exercise. 

He was a citizen of whom the people of his State were proud, 
as is shown by his last election to the Senate at an age at which 
most men are required to quit official life. His death was a 
loss to the Senate, and was keenly felt by his associates in this 
body. As a Senator he will be remembered as wise and learned; 
as a man, as courteous in all his intercourse with his fellows. 
He was a scholar, a statesman, a gentleman — a gentleman in all 
the word implies. 



Address of Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 23 



Address of Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 

Mr. President: Although not among those originally ex- 
pected to participate in these services, I could not let this occa- 
sion pass without paying ray feeble tribute to the memory of 
Senator Whyte unless I was false to one of the closest and ten- 
derest associations and friendships of my life, for, sir, although 
many years separated us in age and while he was here only a 
short time after his return to the Senate, for some reason — I 
never knew why or how — it was my rare privilege to enjov an 
intimate association with Senator Whyte. It was in that asso- 
ciation that I learned to know him, to appreciate his spotless 
character, and to recognize his rare ability. But bevond even 
character and ability what most won my admiration was the 
man's courage. 

It was my privilege to sit in this Chamber and listen to his 
last great speech, and while, being of a different political party, 
I could not subscribe to all that he said, while I realized that 
in the inevitable trend of affairs on the part of a great people 
in working out a national destiny we must of necessity pass 
beyond and perhaps submerge some of the earlier constitutional 
traditions, I could but feel that it would be far better for this 
country to-day if there was a force of sentiment and purpose 
along the line which he pursued in that great argument serving 
as a check and a balance wheel, a factor to conserve the trend 
and direction of this people in their progress along a broader 
and more liberal interpretation of the Constitution. I fully 
agree with the senior Senator from Maryland [Mr. Ravner] 
that if the time ever comes when disaster shall overwhelm us 



24 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

it will be because we have not listened to admonitions similar 
to those embodied in that remarkable speech of his the last 
great effort of his life in this Chamber. 

Mr. President, it was not that alone which so strongly ap- 
pealed to me. f have among the most cherished papers which 
I preserve the memoranda of his speech, in which he raised his 
voice against intolerance. It was. sir, this courage, this will- 
ingness tn stand against the trend of conditions to-day, this 
willingness to voice, out of his great genius, his experience, 
and his devotion to the Constitution, what he believed just and 
right, that so won my admiration and which, while years sepa- 
rated us, made us, during the period of his brief return to 
the Senate, such close and intimate friends. 

I only wish, Mr. President, that occasion had presented the 
opportunity for a more fitting tribute to his memory. The 
few words I have uttered have come from the heart and are 
not the product of preparation. But, sir, above and bevond 
this was the grand Christian character of that man, and as 
lie laid down his armor, as his eyes closed upon the scenes of 
this life he looked forward to another; and as we recall the 
splendid character of the man we may well say of him: 

The- weary sun hath made a golden set, 
And, by the bright track of his fiery car, 
Gives signal of a goodly day to-morrow 



Address of Mr. Rayner, oj Maryland 



Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland 

Mr. President: We are here to-day to pay the last tribute 
to the memory of our departed colleague, the Hon. William 
Pixkney WHYTE, Senator from Maryland. 

The word "honorable" has had a varied signification in the 
political nomenclature of this country. It often has no mean 
ing, and is frequently attached to names that have very little 
claim to its title. In his case it has a double signification. His 
life was full of honors, conferred upon him by the people of his 
State, and as he bore them successively his public and private 
career was as honorable in all of its acts and deeds as that of 
any man who ever served his people in the history of this 
country. 

Senator W«yte was a remarkable man in point of character 
and ability, and certainly not in my day has our State ever 
produced anyone who had so firm a hold upon popular confi- 
dence and affection as he did. In fact, looking over the history 
of Maryland,. I can safely say, taking his record as a unit — at 
the bar and in the various professional employments that he 
filled and the high places that he honored and in the universal 
esteem that he was held by our people for over half a centurv— 
I know of no one who occupied a higher or more distinguished 
position than he did in the annals of our .State. 

Coming from a distinguished ancestry, of which fact he was 
never known to boast and never even to allude to, the repre- 
sentative of an illustrious and honored lineage that was the 
pride of Maryland in its earlier days and that will continue 
to reflect glory upon her in all the years to come, it might be 
supposed that such a descent and such an environment became 
his easy passports to favor when he entered upon the public 
career that he had planned for himself in the pursuit of an 



26 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whvte 

honorable ambition. This was not the case. He seemed to 
throw off at the very outset of his career every help and claim 
that such an influence might be supposed to give and to prac- 
tically proclaim to the people that he desired nothing from 
their hands except that which his merits entitled him to. He 
had made up his mind at an early age to work bv honest toil 
from the bottom round of the ladder to the top, if possible, and 
never to depend in the slightest degree upon any extraneous 
influence to lift him into places that his qualifications did not 
entitle him to hold. 

1 [e filled so many posts of honor with such lasting credit that 
ii would be almost impossible to sketch in this brief presentation 
tin- history of all that he did and tin- great and arduous work of 
his lifetime that he accomplished. It is sufficient to say that 
he was either elected or appointed to every office that the State 
nf Maryland could give him and which he was willing to accept. 

He had a business and a professional and a political training 
combined. Commencing his active life in one of the largest 
commercial houses in America, he acquired an experience ami 
knowledge that were of invaluable service to him afterwards in 
his profession and that for years gave him a reputation in certain 
of its departments unsurpassed by any of his brethren at the 
bar. In commercial practice, when it became necessary to 
investigate in detail the accuracy of complicated accounts, he 
was the most marvelous hand at our bar to unravel and explain 
them and discover the slightest mistake or inaccurate entries 
that they contained. 

I remember once an important case in which I was associated 
with him, in which a large amount of money was involved, em- 
bracing partnership settlements that had run over a long period 
of years, upon which the auditor of one of our courts, himself 
an expert accountant, had stated an account and certified ils 
accuracy to the court, and which Senator Whvti; had set aside 



Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland 27 

through the discovery of an error in bookkeeping that had not 
occurred to any one of the numerous counsel who were con- 
nected with the case. 

When it came to the trial of cases before juries, civil and 
criminal, when he was at the height of his practice, he stood 
without a peer. For years and years he was the leading coun- 
sel in almost every great criminal case that was tried in our 
courts, and his success was so wonderful that it would sound 
like fiction if I were to attempt to recapitulate the verdicts that 
he secured and the victories that he won. In his palmy days 
upon the hustings he was incomparable. As has been well said 
by my colleague, with a commanding presence, with a capti- 
vating voice, with ready wit, and a memory for events and 
individual recollections that seemed to grow stronger as he 
advanced in years, Senator YVhyte held hundreds of audiences 
spellbound by the charm and magic of his eloquence. 

A man may possess all of these great gifts and still not be 
personally popular with the masses. This was not his case, 
however. He was the idol of his fellow-citizens, because he was 
always easy of approach, never exclusive in the slightest degree, 
and at all times willing to place himself upon a par with the 
humblest oT his constituents with whom he came in contact. 

He possessed another gift that was with him until his death. 
He had the greatest capacity for untiring and systematic work 
of anyone whom I ever knew. For years and years I saw him 
almost daily, but I never saw him disengaged or idle. He was 
always at work on something. And during almost the whole 
of the time he held public office, with the exception perhaps of 
the period during which he was governor of the .State, he never 
relinquished his professional work, but carried it right along, 
accomplishing the rare feat of being able to bestow his atten- 
tion upon his practice and at the same time faithfully and assid- 
uously perform the great public trusts that had been committed 



28 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney WhyU 

to him. And, Mr. President, he did loyally perform them. No 
matter how minute the detail, how tiresome the inquiry, or how 
laborious the examination, no subject was ever committed to 
his charge to which he did not devote the concentrated powers 
of his great intellect. 

He tilled the office of comptroller of the State of Maryland ; 
he was governor of the State; he held important posts as legal 
adviser for the municipality of Baltimore; he was mayor of the 
city; he was attorney-general of Maryland; and three times a 
.Member of this body — once to fill the unexpired term of Reverdy 
Johnson by appointment, second by election of the general 
assembly, and third by appointment of Governor Warfield to 
fill the unexpired term of Senator Gorman. 

During the whole of his political career he was the type and 
representative of a generation of constitutional Democrats, who 
have shed imperishable luster and renown upon the historv of 
their country. He believed in the Constitution of his country 
as it was written and intended, and not as it has been perverted 
and disfigured. He was not what we may designate a strict 
constructionist of its provisions, because he always believed in 
putting into exercise the powers of the Federal Government 
whenever the emergency demanded it. He was, however, ir- 
revocably opposed to conferring upon the Federal Government 
powers that were never intended it should possess. And. so 
far as the lights of the States were concerned, he stood herein 
this body and elsewhere as a sentinel upon the watchtower, to 
protect them from invasion by sounding the alarm whenever an 
assault was attempted upon their institutions. In this political 
faith he lived, and in it he died. 

There is but one Senator here now who was with him in those 
stormy and memorable days, the senior Senator from Colorado 
[Mr. Teller], whose voluntary absence from this body we shall 
all lament in the years to come. Beyond the Senate, however, 



Address 0} Mr. Rayner, 0) Maryland 29 

the people of Maryland and the Democracy of the Union will 
never forget the services that Senator W'iiytk rendered in their 
behalf. If Democracy means anything at all, he illustrated it 
in its truest sense. Time and lime again he lifted his voice in 
this Chamber without avail against political tyranny and op- 
pression, and time and time again he thundered through this 
Hall the discarded warnings of the Constitution. His last effort 
in the Senate, when his clarion voice rang as it did in the da\ s 
of vore, was upon the reserved rights of sovereign States. He 
pointed to the fact that the States were still sovereign when 
they acted within their own jurisdiction, and that no emergency 
justified a violation of their constitutional prerogative or a 
breach of their inherent rights. Inherent rights of the States 
and not inherent rights of the Union, was the precept of the 
creed at whose altars he worshiped. He threw aside with 
lofty disdain the vain conceit of an unwritten constitution which 
is bewildering the minds of some of our modern statesmen. 

He stood upon the basic principle of a constitution with dele- 
gated and enumerated powers; and in so far as he was con- 
cerned, the billows of political opposition and adversity beat in 
vain against the bulwark he had reared. His political record 
affords an example worthy of the profoundest study and the 
closest emulation. Men like him, Mr. President, do not perish; 
they perish from the face of the earth, but they live upon the 
pages of immortality. I mean not merely that their names 
are honored and their deeds remembered, but that the impres- 
sion that they have made is indelibly stamped upon the course 
of historv. Their work becomes so interwoven with the spheres 
of action in which they labor that long after their departure 
the creation of their minds, even if not written upon the page 
of historv. stamps itself imperishably upon succeeding genera- 
tions. If the night of forgetfulness and decadence should ever 
overtake us in our political wanderings, names like his should 



30 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

light and lure us back to the paths of honor and of duty as they 
Hash and sparkle on the firmament 

It must not be inferred, however, Mr. President, from any- 
thing I have said that his political career was a placid one. 
Calmness and tranquillity were not the usual accompaniments 
of political contests when he led us on to battle in Marvland. 
Those were days of tumult and contention, when bitter charges 
were made, and feelings were inflamed, but through it all no 
one ever attacked the honor of the man. Let it be written 
down that no personal charge of opprobrium or of dishonor 
was ever brought against him by his most malignant foe. In 
one of these contests he waged it almost single handed. There 
was opposed to hirh an array of brilliant talent, comprising the 
flower of the Maryland bar, the foremost men upon the forum's 
field. A compromise was suggested before the lists were closed, 
but he refused to yield. 

He was of heroic mold; and whether it be right or wrong, 
there was one political virtue in which he always gloried, and 
that was his gratitude to his friends. He did not belong to the 
school of statesmen who believe in using nun to further their 
ambition and then sacrificing them when the occasion demanded 
it. He was not a theorist or an ingrate in politics, but his 
blood was warm for those who served him. In this contest he 
was the center of the storm and the shining mark of the enem) . 
and he went down to defeat. Defeat did not dismay him, and 
reverses did not intimidate him; and while his friends were 
still mourning over the disaster, he sprang unsullied back 
again to the hearts and confidence of the people, and there 
was no honor with which they could have endowed him that 
was not at his disposal. 

I will not dwell upon the surroundings of his home. He 
possessed the deepest devotion for his family; and while he 
never had any ambition to accumulate a large fortune, he was 



Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland 31 

always solicitous for those around him and seemed to be per- 
fectly satisfied if he was able to provide for them every com- 
fort and indulgence they desired. In his own habits he was 
abstemious to a degree of absolute forbearance, and he pursued 
a life of self-denial and sacrifice that is rarely to be met with. 
There was something exquisite about the love he bore for those 
who were dear to him and the tender and touching care that 
he bestowed upon them. 1 was with him at one of the saddest 
scenes of his life, when his heart was rent in twain with grief 
and sorrow. I can never forget the way he bore his affliction. 
It was not the callous hyphilosop of stoicism. It was an abso- 
lute resignation and submission with a spirit of sublime forti- 
tude to the divine will that left an impression upon me that I 
can never erase and that has often made me feel that of all his 
virtues I would rather possess this one, so that, imitating him 
when the shades of night are gathering around my fireside, my 
spirit could rise above the gloom and behold in its dying embers 
the reflected vision of a reunited home. 

His was the philosophy of faith that never permitted him to 
question the great truths that are alone worth living and strug- 
gling and dying for. and without which human life would only 
culminate in despair. These truths were axiomatic with him. 
He never discussed them or allowed himself to doubt them, 
and he passed upon his journey to the shoreless sea with an 
unerring confidence in their realization that no reasoning could 
shake and no visitation of Providence could impair; and without 
which belief human life would be but the involuntary outcome 
of a cruel fate, absolutely purposeless and meaningless, with 
not a ray of divine love to illumine the impenetrable mystery. 

Upon one occasion a great philosopher said to a great scientist : 

Your belief in a personal creator and in a future state is at war with 
your profession; it is all a myth and a fable, and you can not reconcile 
one with the other. 



32 Memorial Addri tses: William Pinkrn y Whyte 

The answer came : 

Well, even if it be a fable, which I do not believe, it has led me to a 
better and a purer life. I cherish the ambition that this falik- shall be 
my dying dream, and 1 will follow it to the grave. 

Governor Whyte in his religious belief was a man of the 
deepest devotion and the most profound convictions. While 
as a statesman he worshiped the cardinal principles of the 
Constitution, as a firm believer in the responsibility of man to 
Cud he followed with unfaltering footsteps to his end the car- 
dinal principles of his faith and his church. In every step of 
his illustrious career there predominated that which is greater 
than anything he ever did, and that was his unyielding spirit 
of honor and integrity, which, with the great moral purpose 
that pervaded his life, enabled him to resist every possible 
temptation at any time to swerve from the path of duty. He- 
was honest in the fullest and broadest acceptation of the term; 
honest to such a point of delicacy and refinement in his profes- 
sional intercourse with his clients that he hardly ever placed a 
proper estimate upon the valuable sen-ices that he performed 
for them. And in his public life no one would ever have dared 
by any form of allurement even in the remotest degree to 
attempt to influence him in the discharge of his public functions. 

Thus he lived and thus he died. With us his place will not 
be filled, in the present day at least. It would be difficult to 
emulate or imitate him, because Providence had given him a 
combination of virtues and of talents that rarely work in har- 
mony with each other. He needs no monument to commemo- 
rate his life. In due time, however, I suppose our State will 
erect some memento in grateful acknowledgment of his serv- 
ices in her behalf. Such a testimonial, while it would perpetu- 
ate his memory, is not necessary to elevate him in the respect 
or esteem in which he was held by the community among whom 
he passed his days. His life needs no legend or inscription to 



Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland 33 

adorn it. He has built his own memorial. He has written 
upon the "eternal skies" the record of a stainless name. 

Mr. Rayner. Mr. President, I move that, as a further 
mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the Senate 
adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 2 o'clock 
and 39 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Mondav , 
January 18, 1909, at 12 o'clock meridian. 

Monday, February 15, 1909. 
A- message from the House of Representatives transmitted 
resolutions of the House commemorative of the life and public 
services of Hon. William Pixknev Wiivtk, late a Senator 
from the State of Maryland. 

78134— S. Doc. 765, 60-2 3 



34 Proceedings in the House 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE 

Wednesday, March 18, iqoS. 
The House met at i 2 o'clock m. 

The following prayer was offered by the Chaplain. Rev. 
Henry N. Couden, I). D.: 

Eternal God, our Heavenly Father, in whose all-encircling 
l<> we dwell and through whose never-ending ministrations 
our existence is continued moment by moment, hour by hour, 
guide us, we beseech Thee, by the Holy Spirit to do Thy will, 
that we may build for ourselves characters which shall be an 
everlasting memorial to our Maker. 

Again we are called upon to communicate the passing away 
of one more of the congressional family, whose long life and 
public career have gained for him an everlasting place in the 
history of his State and Nation. Comfort his friends, colleagues, 
ami family, by the blessed promises of the Gospel of fesus 
Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

A message from the Senate announced that the Senate had 
passed the following resolutions: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
of the Hon. William Pinkney W'iivtk, late a Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the 
House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of 
the deceased Sena t or, and thai, as a further mark of respect to his memory, 
the Senate di 1 now adjourn. 

Mr. C.11. 1.. Mr. Speaker, it is with more than profound sor- 
row thai I rise' to call the attention of the House of Representa- 
tives to the resolution of the Senate which has just been lead. 
announcing the death of the late Senator from Maryland, Hon. 



Proceedings in the Hats* 35 

William PinknEy Whyte, and to ask the House to adopl the 

resolutions which 1 shall presently send to the Speaker's desk 
Mr. Speaker, Senator WHYTE believed in the simple life, lie 
lived the simple life, and at his death or just prior thereto he 
requested that the funeral services should be of the most simple 
character. In accordance with that request we have omitted 
from the resolutions which we shall ask the House to pass the 
usual appointment of a congressional committee to attend the 
funeral. 

This, Mr. Speaker, is not the time to express our feelings as 
to our loss nor to speak of his life and his great public services. 

Some time later I shall ask that a day be set apart for that 
purpose. I present the following resolutions, which I send to 
the desk anil ask to have read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

R, olved. That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
of the Hon. William Pinknev Whyte, late a Senator of the United States 
from the State of Maryland. 

Rt wived, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate, 
and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased Senator. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the H..use do now adjourn. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the resolutions. 
The question was taken, and the resolutions were agreed to. 
Accordinglv, in pursuance of the foregoing resolutions (at 4 
o'clock and 24 minutes p. m.), the House adjourned. 

Monday, January 18, rgog. 

Mr. Gill. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the 
present consideration of the following order, which I send to the 
desk and ask to have read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

i <,,l, /, d, That there be a session ■•!" the House at 2 p m. Sunday. February 
14, for the delivery of eulogies on the life, character, and public services 
of the Hon. William PinknEy Whyte, late a Member of the timed States 
Senate from Maryland. 



^6 Proceedings in the House 

The .Speaker. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the order. 

The question was taken, and the order was agreed to. 

Sunday, February 14, igog. 
The House met at 12 o'clock m. 
Praver by the Chaplain. Rev. Henry X. Couden, D. D., as 

follows : 

Our Father in heaven, we meet here on this sacred day to 
fulfill a sacred mission. We are come to pay a tribute of love 
and respect to men who served with distinction their country 
in the Congress of the United States, than which no greater 
service, if faithfully and efficiently done, can be rendered to 
one's country. Teach us how to be true to ourselves, how to be 
patriots in times of peace, how to be philanthropists, that we 
may feel bound to contribute something to our neighbor, to the 
public weal, and to the uplift of humanity; that we may be, 
indeed, followers of the world's great Exemplar, and departing, 
leave the world a little better than we found it. 

Inspire the men who shall speak here to-day that they may 
bring out the sterling qualities of their departed colleagues; 
that they may be an example to those who shall come after 
them. Comfort us all with the blessed hope of the immortality 
of the soul, and be especially near to the families who mourn 
tin- loss of their dear ones that they may look forward with 
bright anticipations to a world where sorrows never come, and 
where they shall dwell together with their lined ones forever. 
Ami glory and honor be Thine through Him who revealed the 
immortality of tin- soul to the world. Amen. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read the order 
adopted in respect to the late William 1'ixkxev W'hvte. 



Proceedings in the House 37 

The Clerk read as follows : 

On motion of Mr. Gill, by unanimous consent, 

Ordered, That there be a session of the House at 2 p. m. Sunday, Feb- 
ruary 14, for the delivery of eulogies on the life, character, and public 
services of the Hon. William Pixkney Whvte, late a member ..I" the 
United States Senate from Maryland. 

Mr. Gill. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolutions, 
which I send to the desk and ask to have read. 
The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended thai op- 
portunity may be given for tributes to the memory of the late Hon. WIL- 
LIAM Pinkney Whvte, late a United States Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the deceased, and in 
recognition of his distinguished public service, the House at the conclusion 
of the memorial exercises of the day shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate 

Resolved. That the Clerk send a copy "I" these resolutions to the family 
of the deceased. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the 
resolution. 

The resolution was agreed to. 



38 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Gill, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker: We have assembled here to-day to pay tribute 
to the memory of one of Maryland's noblest sons, the late 
Senator William Pinkney Whyte, of whom it may be said 
in the words of Byron: 

Thy days are done, thy fame begun; 

Thy country's strains record 
The triumphs of her chosen son. 

His life was like a shining star in the firmament of Maryland's 
history. It shed the luster of nobility of character and force in 
every sphere of public and private activity in which this strong 
and good man entered. Governor Whyte's influence for good 
did not end with his life. Like a comet which in its rush through 
space leaves a streak of light in its trail, so his life which pulsated 
with goodness and strength has after its extinction left a beacon 
for the guidance of those who were not vouchsafed the God- 
given powers which were his. 

In mv boyhood days it was my good fortune, as friend of his 
sons, tci be a welcome guest at his old-fashioned home in Balti 
more. His hospitality to all who passed his door, and especially 
to the voung, was as warm as it was spontaneous. It was during 
these visits that 1 was struck with the extraordinary strength of 
his devotion to his family and friends. To sacrifice his own 
comfort for the happiness of those about him was to him a 
pleasure. It was then also that I observed those marked char- 
acteristics which were exemplified in his conduct throughout his 
1 in I useful life his gi mi h less and his strength, and exquisite 
and most harmonious Mending of the finest qualities of heart 



Address of Mr. Gill, of Maryland 39 

and head. Strong enough himself to mock at the temptations 
and the great and petty vices to which big as well as little men 
easily fall victims to, he was yet big-hearted enough and sympa- 
thetic enough to look charitably upon the frailties and weak- 
nesses of those who were not blessed with his wonderful self- 
control and powerful moral and intellectual discipline. He was 
strong enough to be self-denying in his habits, but he was too 
human and too broad to permit self-denial and self-sacrifice to 
degenerate into asceticism. Indeed, few men I know were 
more sociable than he. And though he was too strong to 
require the diversion and recreation which most men regard as 
essential, he was too broad not to recognize why others weaker 
than himself did need them. 

It was not strange, then, that a man whose private life was an 
exemplification of the noblest attributes of the loving father, 
the devoted husband, and the faithful friend should have dis- 
charged his public duties with the fidelity and the ability that 
have earned for him the affectionate appellation, "The Grand 
( >ld Man of Maryland." At the age when most boys are still at 
school Governor Whyte was obliged to begin his career in a 
countinghouse as a bookkeeper. His work there, though still 
a lad of 1 8, showed that thoroughness which in his later career 
blossomed forth into that masterful faculty to go to the bottom 
of every difficult problem with which his powerful mind was 
required to grapple. But the routine and the limitations of the 
countinghouse life were not compatible with the tastes and the 
aspirations which this youth had probably inherited from his 
maternal grandfather, the great William Pinkney. He there- 
fore turned from the trials and tribulations of trade to the 
more exacting and more exciting life which the law holds out. 
Governor Whyte's training as a law student was in most capable 
hands. But while I do not wish to detract from the credit 
that may probably be due to those who were intrusted with 



4<> Memorial Addresses: William Pinkncy Whyte 

Governor Whyte's legal training, I am not inclined to attribute 

his magnificient career largely to that training. 

We must remember that we are dealing with a rare individu- 
ality — an individuality which does not suffer itself to be sub- 
merged by initial handicaps, nor one that sends its possessor 
to greater heights because of initial advantages. At the outset 
of his legal career it was soon recognized that this young lawyer 
possessed a power of application, a thoroughness of method, a 
luminousness and strength of intellect that would make him a 
worthy son of the State that has given us a Wirt, a Pinkney, a 
Taney, a Nelson, and a Johnson. The promise of his earlv 
life was fulfilled by the performance of his later career. In 1S47 
we see him for the first time in the role of public servant, when 
this young man of 23 served a term in the lower branch of 
the Maryland legislature. Thereafter, until his death while a 
Member of the United States Senate, his public services and 
activities are so wrapped up and interwoven with the annals 
of our own State that when we read its history we are bound 
to learn much of this beautifully rounded life. Six years after 
his election to the legislature we find him as State comptroller, 
utilizing his experience as an expert accountant in placing that 
important office upon a basis which, since that time, it has been 
necessary to change but little. 

The admirable system which he established in that office and 
the excellent manner in which he fulfilled his responsibilities 
elicited high praise from the legislature of his State. In 1868 
we see Governor Whyte in the United States Senate, the 
worthy successor of Reverdy Johnson, who was called to other 
fields of usefulness. With the hand of the master, we see this 
comparatively young man curbing the bitter feelings and pas- 
sions of partisanship and upholding the waning influence and 
dignity of a coordinate branch of the Government. He was 
fearless enough to enter the lists with such master minds as 



Address of Mr. Gill, of Maryland 41 

Wade, Cameron, Sumner, Conkling, Edmunds, Morton, and 
Conness, and he was strong enough to carry the day. There he 
stood, as he had always stood since that time, for the supremacy 
of constitutional principle against the exaltation of personal 
and party passion, for the equal dignity and preservation of 
everv coordinate branch of the Government against the usurpa- 
tions and the arrogance of power by any one of them. This 
was the first supreme test of his fearlessness and statesmanship, 
and he measured up to' it nobly. Three years after his appoint- 
ment to the Senate Mr. Whyte was elected governor of his 
State, and in 1874 we find him again in the United States 
vSenate. This time he was sent there by a legislature of which 
I had the honor to be a member for a full term of six years. 

After the expiration of his first term we find him declining 
a reelection to that august body. This refusal of one of the 
greatest honors which a State can confer upon its worthy son 
was not prompted by what we could justly consider as a proper 
motive, the desire to provide for himself that competence to 
which his magnificent powers entitled and assured him, but 
because of the illness of his wife. So that when we look at 
any period of this full and tirelessly active career we find that 
Governor WhyTE's energies were stimulated by his devotion 
to his family and his finely developed sense of responsibility 
to his fellow-citizens. 

There can be no nobler example of this keen sense of responsi- 
bility to the public than his public career offers after his retire- 
ment from the Senate in 1880. Some men, after having enjoyed 
the highest favors which a discriminating electorate can bestow, 
are not consent to serve their fellow-citizens in a capacity 
less exalted than that in which they formerly represented 
them. We are accustomed to look upon this weakness as one 
of the foibles of great men. With Governor Whyte, however, 
it was not so. In 1881 the exigencies of public life required him 



42 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney WhyU 

to serve as Baltimore's mayor. In 1900 he was called to be 
its city solicitor. To him the call of his fellow-citizens was 
the equivalent of a sacred command. And he sanctified those 
offices, high in themselves but minor in their nature when 
likened to those which he had formerly filled, with the same 
nobility of purpose, the same inexorable rectitude, the same 
high powers that characterized his conduct in the governor's 
chair and in the national forum at Washington. 

< )f his splendid successes as a lawyer and an orator it is 
sufficient to say that he was a noble successor and representa- 
tive of Maryland's famous line of lawyers. To him the profes- 
sion of the law was a sacred calling, not a means for enrichment, 
followed during the intervals in which his manifold public 
duties did not absorb his attention, for throughout his long 
and useful life his private interests were subordinated to the 
requirements of public responsibility. It was therefore a crown- 
ing tribute to his worth and a striking manifestation of the grat- 
itude of his fellow-citizens when the governor of his State 
appointed him to fill out the unexpired term of the late Senator 
Gorman and when the action of the governor was stamped with 
the people's approval when the legislature of Maryland in 190S 
elected him to the same office. An affectionate father, a 
devoted husband, a faithful friend, a brilliant lawyer, and a 
fearless and splendid public servant — in short, a strong and a 
good man — this is what Governor Whyti: was It is the 
achievement of men such as he was that inspire the well-known 
and beautiful strain : 

Lives 1 ii gi 1 !' men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublin 
Ami departing, leave behind us 

Fool prints on the sands of time. 

Footprints that perhaps another, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother 

Seeing, mighl take heart again. 



Address of Mr. Keifer, of (~>hw 43 



Address of Mr. Keifer. of Ohio 

Mr. Speaker : h is fitting and appropriate that the Members 
of this House, especially of the State of Maryland, should speak 
of tlu- life and character of William PinknEy Whyte, late a 
Senator from the State of Maryland. I offer no excuse for add- 
ing a word of tribute to his memory, although I had no close 
personal acquaintance with him. I knew his public history, his 
splendid life history, and that covered a long and successful 
career. I knew his character and reputation, that which at- 
taches to a man by what we call "word of mouth." That is 
always truthful, no matter what the public prints may contain 
with reference to the individual considered. 

I have a very warm feeling for the State of Maryland and her 
people. Almost one hundred years ago (1811) my father started 
from the heights around Antietam Creek, Maryland, from the 
then village of Sharpsburg, to the West. He carried with him 
the plain, simple, sturdy nature that belonged to the people with 
whom he had lived from birth to a period of about 27 years of 
age 1 had the honor of commanding for almost two years one of 
Maryland's most gallant regiments — the Sixth Maryland Vol- 
unteers —that fought for the preservation of the Union. These 
things make me feel as though it was highly appropriate that 
1 should say a word for the distinguished deceased Maryland 
Senator. In order that there may be no mistake about tlu in- 
scription and history of this distinguished man, I now ask the 
Clerk to read from the Congressional Directory that story of 
his life and career therein contained, which, though not nec< s 
sarily written by Senator Whvte, we all know must have had 
his approval as to its essential accuracy. It is mere state- 
ment or recital and not eulogistic, yet a good, though far from 
full, summary of his life and career. 



44 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney W'hyte 
The Clerk read as follows: 

William Pinkney Whyte, Democrat, of Baltimore, was born in Balti- 
more, Md., August 9, 1824. His grandfather, Dr. John Campbell White, 
.1 native of Ireland, and one of the United Irishmen of 1798, came to 
America in 1800; his maternal grandfather was William Pinkney, of Mary- 
land, who died while United States Senator from that State in 1822; he 
was educated by M. R. McNally, a distinguished scholar, who had been 
secretary of the first Napoleon. From 1842 to 1844 he was engaged in 
mercantile pursuits in the countinghouse of Peabodv, Riggs & Co., of Balti- 
more, of which house George Peabodv was the founder, studied law in 
Baltimore, and finished his legal education at the law school of Harvard 
University in the class of 1S44-45, was admitted to the bar in 1846 and 
practiced his profession in Baltimore: was judge-advocate of a court- 
martial at the Naval Academy in 1848. He was a representative of Balti- 
more city in the legislature of Maryland in 1847 and 184S; was elected 
comptroller of the treasury of Maryland in [853, serving until 1855, when 
he declined a reelection; was a candidate for Congress in 1857 against the 
Know -Nothings and contested the seat of the sitting Member on account 
of fraud and violence at the election, and the Committee on Elections re- 
ported a resolution declaring the seat vacant, but it was laid on the table 
by a vote 100 to 105. He was a delegate to the Democratic national con- 
vention of 1868, which nominated Horatio Seymour for President, in the 
same year he was appointed by the governor United States Senator to fill 
the vacancy caused by the appointment of Reverdy Johnson as minister 
to Great Britain, in 1871 he was elected governor ol Maryland for four 
years, but resigned in 1S74 to enable the legislature to elect his successor, 
on his own election to the United States Senate for a full term from 1875 
I" March 3, 1881, to succeed William T. Hamilton, as a Democrat. In 
1881, on his retirement from the Senate, he was elected mayor of Baltimore 
without opposition. 

In 1887 he was elected attorney-general of Maryland, serving until 1891. 
He was appointed by President Harrison a delegate to the Congress of 
South American Republics, but declined on account of professional engage- 
ments. During the years 181)7 anf l '898 he was chairman of a commission 
established by the city to frame a new charter for the city of Baltimore. 
In 1874, in the boundary dispute between Maryland and Virginia, he 
appeared by appointment of the governor as counsel for his State before 
the arbitration board, composed of Judge Jeremiah S. Black: Governor 
Jenkins, of Georgia; and Senator Beck, of Kentucky. In the same year the 
degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by the University of Maryland, and 
subsequently he received a like degree from St. Johns College. In iqoo he 
was appointed city solicitor of Baltimore, which office he resigned in 1903, 
was appointed June 8, 1906, by the governor of Maryland, United States 
Senator, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. Arthur Pue 



Address of Mr. Keifer, of Ohio 45 

Gorman, and took his seat June i i, to serve until the legislature of M in 
land shall elect a successor for the unexpired term, ending March 3, 1909 
When the Democratic state convention, on August 8, 1907, adopted the 
plan of selecting nominees for United States Senators and declared by 
unanimous resolution that it should be binding on the Democrats elected 
in any county or district to the next legislature to cast their voles for the 
candidates for United States Senator who shall have received the greatest 
number of votes cast at such primary election in such county or district, 
he announced his candidacy for the balance of the term to succeed himself. 
He received 66,290 votes at the primary, carrying every county and di^ 
trict in the State without opposition, insuring his election in January, 1908. 
His term of service will then expire March 3, 1909. 

Mr. Speaker, William Pinkney Whvte died a United States 
Senator March 17, 1908, at the age of almost 84 years. Such 
a long life is rarely allotted to man; and to live in this 
Republic for such a period is to have lived through the 
best and most important period of the world's history. I 
have often reflected over the matter of the greatness of indi- 
vidual men of the present day compared with that of times 
gone bv. We are apt to minimize our own great men. It was 
not hard, Mr. Speaker, for a man to be great in barbaric or 
seraibarbaric times, nor yet to be great in the bursting out of 
civilization in Europe, when it came first out of the forests of 
Germany and France and from early tribal relations. A great 
Saxon, or, indeed, a great Roman, always had behind him 
masses that were of the commonest, illiterate class. When we 
come to our own period, we find that a great man has to be 
great among greatness, and when we speak of William Pink- 
ney Whyte as a great man of his day and generation, we must 
remember his ancestry and the great men all around him. Ik- 
came from a good ancestry, a great ancestry, I can truthfully 
sav, on both his maternal and paternal sides. William Pink- 
ney, a great statesman, lawyer, and early patriot of this coun- 
try, died while a United States Seanator, in 1822, two years 
before the birth of William Pixkxey Whyte, his grandson. 



46 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

William Pinkney Whyte gr< « up among the learned men 
of his State and country and had to compete with them in mer- 
cantile relations, in social relations, in general business rela- 
tions, as an attorney and counseloi al law and as a statesman, 
and in all these things he stood with the stronger and greater 
of them. He succeeded in the United States Senate at one lime 
Reverdy Johnson, a great Marylander, respected and known all 
over the country as a great patriot-statesman. The statesmen 1 if 
Maryland of the time of the civil war had their difficulties multi- 
plied somewhat over that of great men and statesmen in some of 
tlie Northern States. Maryland was a border slave State, and 
when the civil war came that was to try the strength of our con- 
stitutional unity, they had difficulties to overcome, perhaps 
prejudices, that did not attach to men of other parts of the United 
States. These nun in the light around them and with the condi- 
tions about them did their dutv to their country through the 
civil war and since the civil war, and while I belong and have 
belonged to a party opposed to the one to which William 
Pinkney Whyte was always attached, I have always had the 
most profound respect for his character and for the character 
of his associates in lii^ own State. We are here, then, Mr. 
Speaker, to-day simply to testify t<> one of <>ur great statesmen. 
A Member from Maryland speaks properly of William Pinkney 
Whyte as belonging to the State of Maryland, but be belonged 
to the Union — to the great American Republic 



Address of Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 47 



Address of Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker: We are called upon mice more to speak of the 
illustrious dead. 

The late Senator William Pinkney Wiiyti; was of a most 
distinguished lineage. His grandfather, William Pinkney, was, 
in his time, the leader of the American bar. Chief Justice 
Taney, who had listened to arguments by Luther Martin, 
Daniel Webster, and the other giants of the time, declared he 
had never heard Mr. Pinkney's equal; and he was as preemi- 
nent as a statesman as he was as a lawyer. Senator WnvTE, 
if he had one ambition, wanted to equal the standard set by 
his great ancestor, and no one who knew him doubts that he, 
in a very great degree, realized his ambition, for he was un- 
doubtedly eminently safe as a counselor, one of the most bril- 
liant advocates in his State, and, before a jurv, without a peer. 
The story of his life for its last fifty Years is the historv of 
Maryland, and his death closed a great career, which has had 
few like it in the history of the State he loved and served so 
well. While many years of his long life were occupied in public 
office, he was not regarded as an ambitious or self-seeking man, 
and I personally believe that with the exception of his election 
as governor and his first election by the legislature to the Sen- 
ate, the offices he held, in my time at least, came to him he- 
cause he was worthy of them, and men knew he could be trusted 
and delighted in honoring him, without effort on his part. 

Of his integrity there has never been a suspicion or shadow of 
doubt, and he discharged the duties of every office to which he 
was elected or appointed without one adverse criticism. Xo 
man ever heard an official act of the late William Pinkney 
Wiiyti-: censured. Always correct, always honest, he served 



48 Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whyte 

the people faithfully. He was singularly free from avarice or 
greed, and never appeared to consider the profits of an office as 
worthy of his attention, and it has been most frequently com- 
mented upon by those who knew that his legal fees were out of 
all proportion to the eminent services rendered his clients. 

In his private life Senator WhyTE was pure and blameless. 
As a Christian gentleman he was without reproach, with con- 
victions of the life to come and the truths of his religion, which 
were ever firm and unshaken. He was charitable beyond his 
means. Most undoubtedly his last election to the Senate was 
the cause of the greatest gratification to him. Coming as it 
did, unanimously, in his old age, it showed that although nat- 
urally a man of his character had made enemies and known 
opposition during certain periods of his long and splendid life, 
at the end he not only was the best known, but the best loved 
man in Maryland, which was a fitting crown of a life largely 
devoted to the public service of his State and country. 

His death caused more than a mere passing regret, for he 
had won a Warm and loving place in every Maryland heart, 
even among those who did not know him personally, and there 
was among our people a feeling of genuine grief when he passed 
away. 



Address 0} Mr. Goulden, 0} Sew York 49 



Address of Mr. Goulden, of New York 

Mr. Speaker: In this day of our witness to the memory of 
Senator William PinknEY Whyte, I leave to ray colleagues 
more fortunate in his close personal acquaintance the tributes 
of intimate and affectionate association. The State of Mary- 
land is doubly dear to my heart as the scene of my earliest 
recollections and boyhood days and as the field of my activities, 
as well as the birthplace of many of my ancestors of sacred 
memory. As a son of Maryland I have taken pride in the 
achievements of Senator Whyte and a delight in helping to 
honor him. On the several occasions when I called on him for 
assistance in the passage of bills introduced by me I always 
found him willing and ready to help. 

As a man of high aims and ideals, as a citizen of great legal 
and statesmanlike attainments and experience, Senator Whyte 
was exceptionally distinguished. He was such a man as the 
citizens of any State might be proud to honor, and in giving 
him so many marks of their esteem and confidence, my fellow- 
citizens of Maryland and of the country were reflecting honor 
on themselves. That they were justified in their choice, that 
he was tried and never found wanting, the open book of his life 
and high honored career amply testifies. 

You have heard of the great and stirring events in which he 
figured. Let me dwell upon what is to me the greatest lesson of 
his life, the thing for which I revere him most, and which, in 
my opinion, should be the greatest cause of sorrow at his loss. 

By heritage and birth he came to us from our revolutionary 
fathers, and he was thus a link which bound us to the glorious 
781 54— S. Doc. 765, 60-2 4 



so Memorial Addresses: William Pinkney Whytt 

past; but even more by the casl and bent of his mind he stood 
for those things which make the glory of the past and the crown 
of our forefathers; they gave us of their "best in giving us the 
Constitution, and it was for this best that Senator Whyte 
Stood, and which made him such a strong link and such a rep- 
resentative one between the times of our forefathers and these 
our days. He was always for the Constitution; for the Con- 
stitution as it is, and not as we would make it ; his best though! 
his deepest and most profound convictions, the essence of his 
life, were given to the upholding of that instrument, and some 
of the most noteworthy speeches he uttered were in defense of 
its integrity and plain intention. 

We have fallen upon restless times, and we scarcely know 
wherein we stand from day to day in the tierce cross currents 
of opinion on our representative institutions and the framework 
of cur Government. We are mightily rocked in the sea of inter- 
pretations and all but drowned in the torrents of authority. 
But the steadfastness of Senator WlIVTi: was as a beacon light 
in such times, a clear, cold light to give courage and hope of 
succor. He had infinite faith in the fundamental law and its 
plain interpretation; faith in the intention of the people to place 
power only in the hands of their chosen representatives .is a 
bulwark against encroachments from whatsoever source. He 
withstood the Storms of opinion like a mighty oak and defended 
the rights and liberties of the people, who instinctively trusted 
and honored him. 

Strict constructionist he may have been; conservative and 
wise we knew him to be; but we wish from our hearts that 
there were more of him in these fevered days. His loss is a 
great one to his people and to his State, but a greater to the 
institutions he s< » fittingly represented and so eloquentlj de 
feuded. At the passing of such a man I could cry out with 
David, lamenting over Saul. " I low are the might \ fallen !" did 



Address oj Mr. Goulden, of New York 51 

I not know that his spirit lives on; that the things he stood for 
will be the better for his labors; that the true representative 
government he pleaded for and prayed for will be the more able 
to outlast the storms beating down from high places. 

Because his life meant all this, because he died while serving 
his people and country in a capacity he loved, and because his 
lesson and his influence will live on we revere him and 
testimony here to-day, from full hearts, of the love we bore 
him and of the honor and respect in which his memory is held. 

Mr. GlLL. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House now take a 
recess until ; o'clock. 

The Speaker pro tempore. Without objection, the Hoi 
will stand in recess until 3 o'clock. 

There was no objection. 

Accordingly the House took a recess until 3 o'clock. 

O 



